Valve-gear.



No. 804,667. PATENTED NOV. 14, 1905. W. T. MERZENIGH.

VALVE GEAR.

APPLIOATION FILED F219, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

waflljwgq g No. 804,667. PATENTED NOV. 14, 1905. W. T. MERZENIUH.

VALVE GEAR.

APPLICATION TILED PEILQ, 1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET Z.

Witnesses nvehtor W076 g/L,

' Htlomcgs WILLIAM T. MEltZENICH, OF FRANKLIN, MINNESOTA.

VALVE-GEAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 14, 1905.

Application filed February 9, 1905. Serial No. 244,932.

To r/J/ II/l 01/1 it may concern: l

Be it known that I, \VILLLUI T. MnRznNIoH, a citizen of the United States, residing at 1 Franklin, in the county of Renville and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful l Valve-Gear, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to valve-gears for l slide-valves, and has for it object to effect an automatic adjustment of the slide-valve to regulate the lead thereof so as to compensate 1 for increases and decreases in the load, and thereby regulate the speed of the engine. In this connection it is proposed to employ a governor driven from some part of the engine and connected to the slide-valve in such a manner as to effect the automatic adjustment thereof in a simple and positive manner l without in any manner interfering with the controlling of the tumbling-shaft by the reversing-lever.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportion, size, and minor details may be inade within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of the valve-gear of a traction-engine and including the features 1 of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a detail view illustrating a portion of the mechanism for adjusting the tension of the governor. Fig. -t isadetail perspective view of the tension-adjusting lever. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the link for actuating the tumbling-shaft. I

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts in each and every figure of g the drawings.

\Yhile the present invention has been primarily designed for use in connection with traction-engines and has been so illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it will here be stated that as the application of the invention depends no wise upon any particular construction and arrangement of valve-gear and tumbling-shaft it is also applicable to any character of slide-valve engine. 1 To illustrate the application and operation l of the present invention, the accompanying drawings have been made to indicate a portion 1 of the steam-boiler of a traction-engine having the usual drive-shaft 2, mounted transversely across the top of the boiler and supported in bearings 3 in the usual manner. This shaft is driven by a reciprocating piston in any approved manner. (Notshown) Located above and in substantial parallelism with the drive-shaft 2 is a re\ 'ersing-shaft or tumbling-shaft l, supported in suitable bearings 5, rising from the top of the boiler 1 and inclining forwardly so as to locate the tumbling-shaft in the proper relation with respect to the drive-shaft. Upon the driveshaft is an eccentric 6, having an eccentricstrap 7 with an eccentric-arm 8 rising therefrom and provided with a laterally-directed guide 9, preferably in the nature of an antifriction-roller working in the diametric guideway of a cross-head 10, carried and working with the adjacent end of the tumbling-shaft i, there being the usual connecting-rod 11, extending from the eccentric-arm 8 to the slide-valve (not shown) for reciprocating the valve in the usual manner. These parts are common and well known, and as they form no part of the present invention-and have been included in the drawings merely to indicate a form of valve-gear it is apparent that they may be varied considerably without affecting the present invention.

In carrying out the present improvements it is proposed to connect a governor with the tumbling-shaft at to automatically control the latter for the purpose of regulating the lead of the slide-valve. This governor includes an arched or yoke-shaped base-frame 12, having the lower ends of its oppositesides provided with tubular bearings 13, loosely receiving the drive-shaft and located slightly beyond what will be termed the inner end of the tumbling-shaft. A rotatable governor stem or shaft 14 rises through the tubular body portion 5 of the frame or bracket and is provided l upon its lower end with a beveled gear 16,

meshing with a beveled gear 17, carried by the drive-shaft 2, whereby the governor-stem 14 is driven directly from the drive-shaft of the engine. The governor shaft or stem rises for a suitable distance above the top of the bracket or frame 12 and is provided with a fixed head 18. (Jomparatively short pendent links 19 are swung from opposite sides of this head and carry weights 20, preferably in the nature of balls, there being forked or yokeshaped links 21 swung from said balls with their lower ends pivotallyconnected to the flange 22 of the upper end of a tubular slide 23, which embraces the governor-stem 14 and is keyed thereon so as to rotate therewith and at the same time capable of sliding endwise thereon. A helical spring 24 embraces the stem between the top of the slide 23 and the under side of the head 18, there being one or more adjusting-nuts 25 fitted to the threaded upper portion of the governor-stem to bear against the top of the spring, so as to be set against the latter for regulating the tension thereof. A sleeve 26 loosely embraces the tubular slide 23 between its upper annular flange 22 and its lower annular flange 27, the

latter resting upon the top of the body of the bracket 12 and the sleeve being held against endwise displacement by said flanges. Upon that side of the sleeve 26 which is adjacent the inner end of the tumbling-shaft 4 thereis a pin or projection 28, upon which a slide or saddle block 28 is pivotally supported, said block working in a groove or channel 29 of the arcuate link 30, which is provided upon its opposite side with a socket 31, receiving the adjacent end of the tumbling-shaft 4 and fixed thereon by means of a set-screw 32.

As thus far described it will be seen that the governor is driven directly from the driveshaft 2 and is connected to the tumbling-shaft 4 through the medium of the block 28, working. in the guideway of the link 30, whereby vertical movements of the member 28*, occasioned by similar movements of the slide 23 under the influence of the centrifugal action of the balls 20, will operate to rock the shaft 4 and through the valve-gear to adjustably shift the slide-valve so as to automatically regulate the lead thereof according as work is applied to or removed from the engine.

In order that the tumbling-shaft may be manually controlled, there is the usual reversing-lever 33, which is connected to the frame or supporting-bracket of the governor by means of the connecting-rod 34, ordinarily connected to the tumbling-shaft4 through the medium of a crank, which is now displaced by the link 30, the forward end of the rod 34 being entered between a pair of cars 35 upon the back of the tubular body portion 15 of the bracket 12 and pivotally connected to the said ears by a bolt 36. By this arrangement manipulation of the reversing-lever 33 in the usual manner will swing the entire governor back and forth upon its pivotal support upon the drive-shaft 2, whereby the block 28 will be slid through the groove or'guideway of the link 30, and hence swing the latter in the manner of a crank to rock the shaft 4, and thus adjust the lead of the slide-valve manually and independently of its automatic adjustment. This bodily swinging of the entire governor does not aflect its drive connecgear 16, swinging concentrically around the shaft 2, will merely travel backward over the gear 17 without interrupting the drive connection, whereby the manual shifting of the slide-valve may be accomplished without in- 7 terfering with the governor and the valvegear.

It is frequently desirable to quickly adjust the tension upon the governor without stopping the engine and without throwing the governor out of operation, and to accomplish this result there is a supplemental tension device, including a hook-shaped or bell-crank lever 37, mounted to rock upon the bolt 36, which is projected at the outer side of the ears 35 for this purpose. tially horizontal member of the bell-crank lever 37 is bifurcated or slotted, as clearly indicated in Fig. 4, to receive the stem element of the tension, which consists of a headed pin or bolt 38, depending from a lug or shoulder 39 upon the sleeve 26, and a helical spring 40,

embracing the bolt and bearing at its lower end against the head thereof and at its upper end against the under side of the lever, with the latter in turn bearing against the under side of the shoulder 39, the tendency of the spring being to draw downward upon the sleeve 26 in addition to the tendency of the main tension-spring 24. A connecting-rod 41 extends rearwardly from the lever 37 and is connected to a controlling-lever 42, fulcrumed, as at 43, upon the reversing-rod 34 and having any ordinary form of spring-dog 44 cooperating with an arcuate rack 45, carried by the rod 34. By this arrangement of parts the lever 37 is normally held against pivotal movements by reason of the controlling-lever 42 being locked upon the rack 45, so that when the sleeve 26 is elevated by the governor the stem 38 of the supplemental tension device is also moved upwardly therewith and the spring 40 is compressed between the headed lower end of the stem and the lever 37, whereby additional tension is applied to yieldably resist the elevation of the slide 23. The tension of the supplemental spring 40 may be varied by adjustment of the lever 42 so as to increase and diminish the additional tension, as desired. It will of course be understood that the sleeve 26 is held against rotation by the lever 37 and the block 28 fitting in the link 30, whereby the governor-stem may ro tate without interfering with the connection between the. lever 37 and the spring 40. It will also be noted that by reason of the fact that the lever 42 and the rack 45 are carried by the connecting-rod 34 between the reversing-lever 33 and the bracket or supportingframe 12 of the governor there is no change in the relation between the lever 42, the lever 37, and the supplemental tension device during swinging movements of the governor upon the shaft 2 by the manipulation of the tion with the shaft 2 for the reason that the reversing-lever,whereby the levers 33 and 42 The upper substanmay be individually manipulated at any time l connected to the governor for swinging the without interrupting the operation of the engine and the governor.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that the present governor is connected directly to the valve-gearfor automati ically controlling the slide-valve, wherefore the effect of the governor is had directly in the steam-chest instead of in the steam-pipe 3 several feet away from the chest, and therefore the result of the present governor is more nearly instantaneous than in the ordinary arrangement. By reason of the practically instantaneous effect of the governor the speed of the engine will not exceed the predetermined rate to which the governor is set more than two or three revolutions. Moreover, by governing the slide-valve not only is the supply of steam controlled, but also the exhaust, wherefore as the exhaust is reduced in proportion to the supply there is a consequent compression in the cylinder at the exhaust side of the piston, which cushions the latter, and thereby tends to reduce the speed of the engine, in addition to the reduction occasioned by the reduced steam-supply.

Having fully described the invention, what is claimed is l. The combination with a valve-gear including a tumbling-shaft, of a crank member carried by the shaft and projected at opposite sides thereof and provided with an arcuate guideway extending at opposite sides of the shaft a governor mounted for swinging movements and having a member working in the arcuate guideway of the crank to rock the shaft automatically and also by swinging movements of the governor.

2. The combination with a valve-gear including a tumbling-shaft, of a crank member carried by and projected at opposite sides of the shaft and provided with an arcuate guideway extending at opposite sides of the shaft,

a governor mounted to swing bodily to opposite sides of the shaft and having a slidable non-rotatable member provided with a projection working in the guideway of the crank,

and manually-controlled means connected to the governor for swinging the same.

The combination with a drive-shaft, a tumbling-shaft mounted in substantial parallelism therewith, an operative connection between the drive-shaft and the tumbling-shaft, a crank carried by the tumbling-shaft and projected at opposite sides thereof, said crank being provided with a guideway extending at opposite sides of the shaft, agovernor driven from the drive-shaft and mounted to swing about the latter as a center, said governor being provided with an actuating member working in the guideway of the crank to operate the latter by the automatic movement of the governor and to reverse the position of the crank by bodily swinging movements of the governor, and manually-eontrolled means same.

a. The combination with a drive-shaft, a tumbling shaft in substantial parallelism therewith, an operative connection between the drive-shaft and the tumbling-shaft, of a crank provided upon one extremity of the tumbling-shaft and projecting at opposite sides thereof, the outer face of the crank being provided with a guideway extending at opposite sides of the shaft, the drive-shaft being projected beyond the crank-terminal of the tumbling-shaft, a beveled gear upon said projecting end portion of the drive-shaft, a centrifugal governor mounted upon the projected end portion of the d rive-shaft to swing around the same as an axis, a beveled gear carried by the governor and in mesh with the drive-gear, a lateral projection carried by the operating parts of the governor and working in the guideway of the crank, and manually-controlled means for swinging the governor.

5. The combination with a valve-gear, of a governor for automatically controlling the valve-gear, said governor being mounted for bodily movements to also control the gear, manually-controlled means for bodily moving the governor. and means for varying the tension of the governor including a controlling device carried by the means for manually moving the governor.

6. The combination with a valve-gear, of a governor to automatically control the same and mounted for bodily movement to control the gear by said bodily movement, a reversing-lever, a connecting-rod between the reversing-lever and the governor to bodily move the latter, and means for varying the tension of the governor including a controlling device mounted upon the connecting-rod.

7. The combination with a valve-gear, of a governor for automatically controlling the same, said governor being mounted to swing bodily to control the valve-gear by said bodily movements, at reversing-lever, a connectingrod between the reversinglever and the governor for swinging the latter, means mounted upon the connection between the rod and the governor for varying the tension of the latter, and a tension-eontrolling device mounted upon the connecting-rod.

8. The combination with a valve-gear, of a governer to automatically control the same and mounted to swing for controlling the gear by its swinging movements, a reversing-lever, a connecting-rod extending from the lever and pivotally connected to the governor, a tensionadjusting lever fulcruined upon the pivotal connection between the rod and the lever, a tension-controlling lever mounted upon the connecting-rod, and aconnection between said controlling-lever and the tension-adjusting lever.

9. The combination with a valve-gear, of a governor to automatically control the same =& 804,667

mounted to swing for controlling the gear by trolling lever mounted upon the connecting its swinging movements, said governor being rod, and a connection between said lever and provided with a stem carried by the shiftable l the other arm of the bell-crank lever.

member thereof, a helical spring embraeing'l In testimony that I claim the foregoing as 5 the stem and connected at one end thereto, a my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in bell-crank lever having one arm slotted with the presence of two witnesses.

l the stem received through the slot and the l p r slotted arm bearing against the free end of the VILLIAM MERAENKH' \Vitnesses:

spring, a reversing-lever, a connecting-rod extending between the lever and the governor WILLIAM W. MoGowAN, for bodily swinging the latter, a tension-con- M. B. BERTRUNG. 

